Lt. Col. WILLIS FAY U.S. Air Force, Retired Willis C. Fay, 86, a longtime resident of Henderson, passed away Sunday, May 11, 2008. He was born March 7, 1922, in Lexington, Neb. Willis was a wonderful husband, father, grandfather and uncle. He was a member of the Henderson Community Church and a faithful Disciple of Christ all his life. Willis had his first job at the age of 8, and graduated from high school in 1940. He was a coin machine mechanic in Grand Island, Neb., before he joined the U.S. Air Force. Willis was a veteran of World War II, having flown 37 missions in a B-17 bomber over Germany, and served a total of 28 years in the military. He served overseas two other times, once in Kaufburen, Germany, and also in Misawa, Japan. Willis was a member of the Eagles. He graduated from the University of Maryland with a B.S. in military science, after attending night school for 11 years and while raising a young family. He was a fabulous dancer, andwas a handyman who could fix anything. He loved to hunt and fish, and was an avid gardener. He bowled, played billiards and taught his girls to throw a ball like a boy. He was generous and kind, a patient and understanding father - very much dedicated to his family. Willis was honest and upright. He loved to talk and was a great storyteller. He was loved by everyone who knew him and will be greatly missed. He was preceded in death by his parents, Hernon Fay and Grace Crawford Fay; one brother, Jim Fay; his wife, of 44 years and mother of his five girls, Dorothy Dee Fay; and by his first granddaughter, Marlisa Ann. Willis is survived by June L. Fay, his wife of 13 years; and her five children, Linda A. Leavitt (Mike), Patty Linson, Tom Dopico and Tawney Block, all of Las Vegas, and Sherry McClelland of California; and his five daughters, Jacquie Powell (J. Rocksey) of Wichita, Kan., Candee MacKinnon (Martin) of Henderson; Mickey Adams (Jim) of West Point, Utah; SherryLynne Fay of Henderson, and Cindy Dupaix of Kearns, Utah; 23 grandchildren; and 45 great-grandchildren. Viewing will be from 5-7 p.m. Friday, May 16. Funeral will be at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 17, both at Palm Mortuary, 800 S. Boulder Highway in Henderson. Graveside services will be at 8 a.m. Monday, May 19, at the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery, 1900 Buchanan Blvd. in Boulder City.

from the Las Vegas Review-Journal (NV), May 14, 2008

To trace Willis backwards proved relatively simple. Willis himself was born March 7, 1922 in Nebraska and would therefore appear on the census of 1930. In addition, the name of his father is given, and "Hernon" is an extremely unusual name. It should therefore be possible to find them in 1930, and so it proved. However, what I found opened new questions.

1930 Grand Island, Hall, NE

Opel and Willis were lodgers? Where was Hernon then? I found him in the same place but a different household. His wife's name was Sylvania G.: did the G. stand for Grace (the obituary named Willis' mother as Grace Crawford). And why were Willis and Opel listed with birthstates NE NE IA, while the three children shown with Hernon were IA IA KS and NE IA KS? Sylvania was born in KS; Hernon in NE. Why were the youngest children put to lodging? The questions were answered in part by the census of 1920.

1930 Grand Island, Hall, NE

1920 Yankee, Perkins, Nebraska

This makes it clear that Hernon married twice. While it is certainly possible that Sylvania's middle name was Grace, the presence of three children in the census of 1930 cannot be explained except by concluding that Sylvania, like Hernon, was married twice, and these are three children from her first marriage and not Hernon's children. We also see "Hernon Jr." in 1920. He was born about 1914, and must be the child mentioned in the WWI registration form.

WWI Registration Form

I do not know what happened between 1922 and 1930 (Willis was born in 1922). Neither Grace nor Hernon Jr. seems to be in the census of 1930. Does the note on the bottom of the WWI form ("physicaly unable") refer to the child and did he die of his disability? Or of some disease? Did Grace die, or did she divorce Hernon and remarry? At any event, the children Opel and Willis were put to lodging when Hernon remarried. Sylvania's children were either adopted or merely assumed to be Fay children.

There is an ancestor tree posted on RootsWeb that I found after writing the above. The tree was created by Mickey Marie Fay Adams, one of the daughters of Willis (see obituary above). The sources she gives are mostly reports at LDS, but it is clear that she has family knowledge of this line. She says that Grace divorced Hernon, but does not give a date. She also says that Hernon Jr., born 6 Mar 1913 in Madrid, Perkings Nebraska, married Lucille Wagner (Willis, his brother, married Dorothy Dee Mae Wagner. I do not know the relationship between the Wagners.). Hernon and Lucille are said to have had six children. According to the California death list and Social Security, Hernon was born June 3, 1913. Where was he in 1930? Opal (note spelling) seems to have married a man named Bieber; according to the SS lists, Opal F. Bieber was born May 23, 1920 and died March 7, 2000 in Nebraska; these dates agree with those given by Mickey, but she does not mention Opal's marriage.

The next step was to learn the names of Hernon's parents. This was a little more difficult because the indexer used creative spelling (Hernon became Herman), but the actual image shows "Hernon."

1900 Logan, Antelope, Nebraska

Charles H. Fay, born September 1855, in IL, of parents born in VT. Married 21 years. It should be possible to find him newly married in 1880 and with his parents in 1870. And so it was, although it required several searches to be sure.

1880 Wheeler, NE

1870 Lincoln, Grundy, IA

With Daniel M. Fay, we are clearly back to the line given by Orlin, detailed above, and expanded on Daniel Franklin's page.